The Saskatchewan Roughriders may be willing to give up their chance at drafting Regina native Ben Heenan.
On Friday, the Roughriders signed offensive lineman Chris Best to a contract extension. With Best, Brendan LaBatte and Dominic Picard all signed this offseason, the need for an offensive lineman may have decreased.
"When it comes to the draft we're going to pick the best guy that's on the board that can help us. Ben Heenan is up there," said General Manager Brendan Taman, "We have not traded him to Edmonton. He's still in very serious consideration. I don't think you can ever have enough core of offensive linemen but whether or not he's the pick we still have some discussions to do."
Asked if it is possible the team is looking at trading the first overall selection to pick up extra draft picks to address needs at receiver and defensive linemen, Taman said that is part of the discussion.
"That's the give and take when you do all this stuff. I think that's a consideration we're going to look at. It's a matter of who you think you're going to get if you do go down and what the quality of that individual(s) are going to be."
Heenan is being highly sought after by the Edmonton Eskimos, who toured the Grand Coulee farmer around their facilities this week. The Eskimos hold the second overall selection.
